Josh Duhamel: Classic Hunk

He's literally tall, dark and handsome. The producers of Win a Date With Tad Hamilton were looking for an actor with "idol potential" to play Tad. Josh Duhamel's agents sent them a tape of their client being mobbed by soap opera fans and the producers were sold. The actor put in three years on daytime drama "All My Children" only to die falling off a bridge. Before the soap stint and unfortunate "death", Josh played title role in the T.V. movie "The Picture of Dorian Gray". You can catch the hunky actor currently on t.v. series "Las Vegas" co-starring with James Caan.

Josh was a jock in school and studied biology with the goal of becoming a dentist. Dentistry's loss is Hollywood's gain. The morning we spoke with Josh in L.A., he breezed into the room flashing that million dollar smile, planted his 6'3" jean-clad bod down in a chair that looked too small for him and scratched his tossled head. Yep, we can see why he gets mobbed by soap fans. Josh told us how much he owes to his soap career and what it's like to be a soap hunk breaking into nighttime t.v. and feature films.

TeenHollywood: How are you liking working on "Las Vegas"?

Josh: We're happy with it. They won't tell anybody until May 15th or whatever [whether it's renewed or not]. We hope so. We know they like the show. We've sort of navigated our way through four or five episodes and I think we're getting on track. I think it's funnier. This next one that's coming on is great. So I'm happy.

TeenHollywood: Have you ever gone on a date with a fan like Tad does?

Josh: I have done it in real life. When I was on "All My Children", we did a thing for Seventeen Magazine where a girl won a date. And I went to her prom with her in Alabama, and she was a sweetheart. I didn't move to Alabama (laughter) and I didn't buy a farm there [Tad buys a farm in the movie] but we still keep in touch.

TeenHollywood: Do you think there's a "good boy" side to Tad?

Josh: I wanted it to be a difficult decision for [Kate's character] and the audience too but I didn't want him to be too nice either. So it was a difficult line to walk. His reasons for wanting to be with her were ultimately selfish. He's a narcissist, and a lot of times the worst narcissists are the ones who seem like the nicest, most genuine people, who look you in the eye and tell you what you want to hear. But I think he is a good guy at heart. I think the reason people loved him was because he had these boy-next-door qualities. As he progressively become a bigger and bigger star, he became detached from reality. He's not the person he was. I think Rosalie helped him feel like that again and that's why he wanted to be around her.

TeenHollywood: Who did you have a teen crush on?

Josh: Lots of people. I used to sneak into my uncle's. He had a stack of Playboys. I think everybody has crushes. I definitely had them. Alyssa Milano was one of them. But I think every teenage boy did.

TeenHollywood: Tad has this incredible Hollywood house. Was it a real place or a set?

Josh: That 's a real house. It's on the beach at Malibu. This place is crazy. It's fabulous, but at the same time it's pretty sterile - you know. You don't feel comfortable in there. It was a really nice house, but it sort of parallels Tad's life.

TeenHollywood: We hear you have generated fan frenzy.

Josh: Part of the reason I got this job was because this woman right here(he indicates his publicist or manager) was really smart and used some footage we had from what we call Super Soap Weekend in Florida where the biggest fans basically from ABC daytime would go to this big event at Disney World. You go to this thing and every single person there knows you. You feel like you're Tad Hamilton. We had footage of me walking down the streets there at a question-answer thing with all these people watching. They saw it and thought, 'well, maybe he does have an idea of what it feels like'. It was a microcosm of what it's actually like for somebody like that - Tom Cruise or whatever.

TeenHollywood: As a soap star, did you ever get any strange gifts?

Josh: I got these pictures one time of this woman in this lingerie dressed up as a cat. She was a little weird - an older woman.

TeenHollywood: Other people who have worked on soaps have told me the audiences are the most possessive.

Josh: Well, they're very loyal. But you have to remember it all comes from good. They mean no harm. They watch the show every day. They feel that they know you. They do sort of know you, because this character - a lot of it is you. Especially when you're doing it every day. They just love the show, and they love watching you. It's all very good, and I'm grateful for it.

TeenHollywood: Is there a stigma by Hollywood toward soap opera actors? If so, how did you overcome it?

Josh: There is definitely a stigma attached. It ticks me off a lot of times because there's a lot of really good actors in soaps. And again, there's a lot of really good actors who have come from them and have done really well. Alec Baldwin was on a show for three years. The ones [casting directors] who cast me in these things see beyond that. They just look at the actor and that's it.

TeenHollywood: What did you get out of working in the soaps?

Josh: To me, I'll put it up against any acting training school that you want. Cause you're on the job every day learning. If you use it as a tool to learn, it's a great opportunity to really work on becoming a good actor. You learn all about how cameras are positioned, lighting, how to manage people and production, all these different things, so that when I came to LA and started auditioning, and I got the parts on Las Vegas and "Tad Hamilton", yeah, it's a much bigger playing field but it comes down to two people in a scene together.

TeenHollywood: Soaps teach you discipline, you always have a script in your hip pocket.

Josh: Right. You do, and you learn rhythms of scenes and what works. There's a tendency to fall into certain habits, but if you tell yourself not to do that and if you don't stay there too long, to me it was the best thing that could have happened doing those three years on that show.

TeenHollywood: How was working with Kate Bosworth?

Josh: (beaming) Kate is a real sweetheart. It was kind of interesting to me, because she's a star on the verge, to just watch and see how she handled it. Some days she would be a little overwhelmed by all the attention that she gets but she's so well-adjusted. I think she's 21 now. It's amazing. She's an incredibly smart girl. Topher (Grace) is another one. I just have so much respect for these guys. Topher called me at home after I got the part and congratulated me, which I thought was very cool, because I'd been watching "That '70's Show" for so long. The whole experience of working on this movie was so fun. I had more fun working than on my days off.

TeenHollywood: We hear you played a lot of Trivial Pursuit on the set. What category is your specialty?

Josh: I only played a couple of days. My worst category was arts and entertainment. Biology was my best one.

TeenHollywood: Do you have any special talents besides acting?

Josh: I can fart the pledge of allegiance. (laughter) Just kidding. No. Not really. I play sports. I really feel like a regular dude who happens to be incredibly lucky. I love football and beer and have a normal girlfriend. We've set a date . . . it's private. Just for her sake more than anything else. (We're sure Josh's soap fans know who he's engaged to. We let him keep it private).

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.